“What would the sidewalk of my street reveal if photographically described as pure presence, devoid of human beings? Boulevard Saint-Laurent is a major corridor in Montreal, charged with history, culture, and the aura of generations of people for whom it represented a destination, where many have also walked. It is a space made from profuse places, an imaginary line that for some divides and for others unites. I want to see what photography and walking reveal when this iconic place no longer has its primary component: People. Walking through the city the pedestrian comes upon public spaces that have ceased to perform their primary function because they are empty. Empty public places become spaces of dystopia and the sidewalk a kind of void stage, while “a post pedestrian city not only has fallen silent but risks becoming a dead language,” writes Rebecca Solnit. My project shows the sidewalk spaces along Boulevard Saint-Laurent, a popular street in Montreal nicknamed La Main where I live empty of human presence. This work involves photography, walking, time and place.

During the two years I photographed this work people often stopped me to ask what I was photographing. Some came out of their homes wondering why I was taking a picture of their house from across the street. Most were genuinely interested to hear about my artwork, and many were perplexed when I explained that it was not their house but the empty sidewalk that passed in front of their home that was the real space I was snapping with my camera. In this sense, my project resulted in a form of spontaneous social activity where strangers interacted and thought about art. As I began to see the results of this visual experiment, I was struck by something of a categorical shift. The absence of people in the picture frame denotes a distinctive component in the history of art that goes back to landscape painting. The series bridges representations of the city and wilderness. In fact, without any visible human presence along the street, Boulevard Saint-Laurent appears in its own state of wilderness. While it was never imagined as a signifier for the pathos of absence, Every Foot of the Sidewalk does reveal the power of spaces in which we stage our daily lives.” – Philippe Guillaume

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As found on the Walking Encyclopaedia Blogspot.